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Police officers march in formation as they enter St. Patrick's Church, in Stoneham, Mass., before a funeral Mass for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Collier was fatally shot on the MIT campus Thursday, April 18, 2013. Authorities allege that the Boston Marathon bombing suspects were responsible.
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

CAMBRIDGE - Hours before a memorial service for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier was set to begin, singer James Taylor sang as police officers began filing into Briggs Field at MIT. Uniformed officers paraded in holding a sea of flags.

Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to address the service, as is Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat. Andrew Collier, Sean’s brother, will speak along with MIT Police Chief John DiFava. Volunteers and attendees wore badges reading “Collier Strong.”

Collier, 26, was shot dead in his police cruiser on the MIT campus Thursday evening, allegedly by Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. His killing sparked a chase and gun battle that resulted in the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Dzhokhar was captured Friday evening and remains hospitalized and under arrest. A private funeral service for Collier was held Tuesday.

State police and police from around the state came to patrol the service, to allow the Cambridge police to attend. The service is open only to law enforcement and members of the MIT community.

Before the service, former colleagues remembered Collier as a man destined to become a police officer. Collier joined the Somerville auxiliary police force, a volunteer organization, when he was 19. He was hired by the Somerville police force in 2008, first as an intern, then as a records clerk and information technology assistant. He left in January 2012 and took a job with the MIT police.

The auxiliary police did unpaid details, patrolling schools, parks and churches. Collier progressed through the ranks to become a sergeant, Carvalho said. He would put 1,000 hours a year into the volunteer position. In the summers, he worked for the Hull Police Department.

Carvalho said Collier was constantly working in his community – helping the homeless, working with MIT students and volunteering for police work. “There are some officers who join because they want a paycheck. There are others who want to help everyone out in the world,” Carvalho said. “That’s what he was.”

For four years, Collier worked in the office of Somerville Police Officer Robert Ankenbauer focusing on information technology. Ankenbauer said Collier paid attention to all the details of police work. When he first interviewed with Ankenbauer for a college internship, Ankenbauer recalled, “He told me then and there, ‘I want to be a cop in life.’”

“He was destined to be a police officer,” Ankenbauer said.

Collier pulled records for people. He designed the Somerville Police Force’s web page and created its Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube account.

Danny Gilligan, who works in the grounds department at MIT, said Collier was the “new kid on the force,” having been there just a year. But he already fit in well with the community. “He was just a teddy bear, a nice kid,” Gilligan said.

To Annkenbauer, Collier was like a third son. Ankenbauer teared up remembering him. “He left a big hole in my heart,” he said.